The incredible young musicians of the Landesjugendjazzorchester Mecklenburg-Vorpommern leader Michael Leuschner, special programm:
“Organ Meets Bigband”

“Gregg” Gregory Gronowski the late great marketing and sales Director of Hammond Organ USA MC’ing very special Hammond party at Summer NAMM Show in Nashville Tennessee introducing the new Hammond XK-5 Hammond organ – miss you Gregg!

I played 207 gigs in the famous JAZZ KNEIPE Frankfurt at Berlinerstr. 70 until Regina the boss finally closed the doors and moved to Spain a few years ago, usually in Duo, sometimes as Trio but more often than not as Solo. This was a special occasion because my bandmates from California came over so I had them on the gig with addition of Sgt. Al Wittig of U.S. Air Force on tenor, James Preston of Sons of Champlin band drums, Barry Finnerty gtr., myself Jon Hammond at XB-2 Hammond organ. This was a very special place frequented by all the musicians after there gigs. A 5 hour gig until wee hours of the morning, Live Music 7 days a week in rotation with musicians like Piano George, Izio Gross, Wilson de Oliveira and members of HR Bigband. Regina introduced me to Tony Lakatos the Hungarian tenor saxophonist who I play with still today. The club was not large but it had a great atmosphere and was always a safe place to hang out until as late as 5AM. Sadly the Jazz Kneipe is still shuttered there on Berlinerstr. directly behind the Frankfurter Hof Hotel. All musicians tip their hat when they pass by. There’s a lot of music in those walls!

The mighty Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by charismatic trumpeter and nine-time Grammy Award winner Wynton Marsalis, lends its fleet brand of hard-swinging jazz to classic repertoire by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, and other jazz greats—connecting audiences to the rich and vibrant history of African-American music.
— with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Matias Tarnopolsky and Paramount Theatre of the Arts

ENCORES: Louisville Kentucky Jazz Factory – JON HAMMOND Band Jazzin By Martin Z. Kasdan Jr. Last year San Francisco-based organist Jon Hammond joined his buddy, Louisville guitarist John Bishop, for a night at the Jazz Factory. Hammond has just released Late Rent, on Ham-Berger-Friz Records, available at http://www.cityhallrecords.com/artist/HAMMOND,%20JON.htm if you can’t find it locally. In an e-mail to me, Hammond described this as “a record that took me 25 years to put together. The disc opens with “Late Rent,” a loping swinger and is followed by “Pocket Funk,” with a slightly Latin feel. “Late Rent” is reprised in a live take at the end of the CD. Lee Morgan’s funky “The Sidewinder” is the only cover tune on the album, although, as Hammond acknowledges in his liner notes, “White Onions” is “a bluesy Hammond/Finnerty composition reminiscent of `Green Onions.’” In closing, happy holidaze to one and all. You can send greetings to me at mzkjr@yahoo.com

Jon Hammond is a musician, composer, bandleader, publisher, journalist, TV show host, radio DJ, and multi-media entrepreneur. He currently travels the world, playing gigs and attending trade shows.

THE EARLY YEARS
Jon Hammond was born in Chicago in 1953. His father was a doctor and his mother was a housewife. They both played the piano. In 1957, his parents moved Jon and his four sisters to Berkeley, CA, where his father worked in a hospital as head of the emergency room. When he was nine, Jon started accordion lessons. “In those days, they had studios where parents would drop their kids off after school for tap dancing and accordion lessons. There were accordion bands and they would compete against each other.”

“Every time I see a musician walking down the street I say, ‘Hey, where’s the gig?’ Because it doesn’t matter what kind of music you play, if you’re carrying an instrument–going to a rehearsal, or coming back from a repair shop, whatever it is–we all need our gigs. And that’s what the union is all about. Hopefully, we can all keep working and be supportive of everybody’s gigs. There’s room for everybody.”

Jon played his first gig at a senior citizens luncheon when he was eleven. Not only did he get a free lunch but he was paid $25 –a lot of money in those days. Jon says his father was supportive, but did not want him to pursue a music career. “He told me that music was a great hobby. He got me a wonderful professional accordion for my Bar Mitzvah, directly from John Molinari, one of the greatest accordionists who ever lived. It was a Guilietti Professional Tone Chamber accordion. That’s the accordion I won Jr. Jazz Champion on in 1966.”

In high school, Jon attended a private boys school in San Francisco. He was a class clown, and when it got to the point where he was going to be expelled, Jon took his accordion and ran away from home. He immersed himself in the San Francisco music scene and started playing organ in several bands. By 1971 he was in a four piece rock group called Hades which shared a rehearsal space with Quicksilver Messenger Service. “I was friends with their manager, Ron Polte, who also managed guitarist John Cipollina. We got to open for his band, Copperhead.”

Jon continued to play gigs in the Bay Area in different configurations, including a few gigs with a young Eddie Money. By this time Jon had become frustrated with the Bay Area scene. One night while playing a biker bar he got into a fight and his band didn’t come to his defense. “That was the last straw. I was angry and I said I wasn’t coming back.”

Jon in the early 70s

Jon moved to Boston in 1973 to attend the Berklee School of Music. He also got a gig playing in Boston’s Combat Zone backing up burlesque shows. When Jon saw one of his idols, pianist Keith Jarrett play in New York he told him he was going to Berklee and asked him for advice. “Keith looked me right in the eye and said ‘Berklee can be very dangerous for your music.’ It was like he popped this huge bubble. Years later I came to understand what he was talking about. You have to learn the fundamentals, but the music itself comes from a much deeper place. They can’t teach that, you have to find it yourself.”

When Jon’s teachers began sitting in on his gigs in Boston, he questioned why he was in school if the teachers were coming to play with him. He quit school, moved to Cape Cod and started playing with bandleader Lou Colombo. “He did all the private parties for Tip O’Neill. We played what they used to call the business man’s beat. On the gig it was forbidden to swing. It was like swing cut in half. So if you tried to go with the four, Lou would say, ‘Don’t swing it, don’t swing it.’ He pounded it into my head night after night.”

LATE RENT

In 1981 Jon took a trip to Paris where he broke through his writers block and wrote some of his best music. He returned to New York with his new tunes and started a production company with the idea of getting a record deal for a friend that had played on a #1 hit record. After months of pounding the pavement with no results, Jon realized he had better work on his own music before his money ran out. He took the last of his savings, including his upcoming rent money, and went into the studio to record what came to be known as “The Late Rent Sessions”.

The session had Todd Anderson on tenor sax, Barry Finnerty on guitar, Stephen Ferrone on drums, and Jon on B3. They recorded at Intergalactic, the last studio that John Lennon recorded in. Jon had no luck getting a record deal for his new project, but he did get gigs in New York with his band Jon Hammond and the Late Rent Session Men.

n 1982, Jon found out about public access television and the idea that anyone could produce a show and get it on TV. He started broadcasting on Manhattan’s public station in 1984. “I decided I was going to produce a radio show on TV. The first episodes showed just my tapping foot and my voice. It was a gimmick. We had graphics that were synchronized to go with the music. It worked out well. People dug it.” Within a few weeks, Jon was interviewed and featured in Billboard Magazine. The Jon Hammond Show was considered an alternative to the clips on Cable TV. “MTV was still in its infancy. We had a concept that was revolutionary. My phone started ringing and we were the hot kids on the block.”

LIVING ABROAD

Jon continued to play gigs in New York and produce his TV show. In 1987, he went to his first trade show (NAMM) where he was introduced to Mr. Julio Guilietti, the man who built his accordion. He then began traveling to trade shows and making contacts with musicians and companies around the world, including Hammond Suzuki. “They gave me the Hammond XB-2, the first really powerful portable Hammond organ. Glenn Derringer, one of my all-time heroes, presented it to me. I got one of the first. Paul Shaffer from the Letterman Show got the other. At the time there was only one EXP-100 expression pedal–we had to share the pedal. I used the pedal for my gigs and when Paul needed it I would bring it over to him at 30 Rockefeller Center on my bicycle.”

In the early 90s, when his New York gigs began drying up, Jon was encouraged to go to Germany. “It was a hard time. My father had just died and there were very few gigs. I got the XB-2 organ right when I needed it, so I decided to take a chance. I bought a roundtrip ticket to Frankfurt with an open return. I went with 50 bucks and stayed for a year. When I came back, I had 100 bucks.”

Jon stayed at a friend’s house and played a borrowed accordion on the street until he could get a band together. “I played on the street until my fingers turned blue and would collect enough money to get some fish soup. After about two weeks I got a call—I had put a band together and had 3 gigs coming up. A TV show had heard my story and wanted to do a story on me. At the first gig 19 people came; the second only 15 people came. Then I got the little spot on TV. When I came to the third gig people were lined up down the street. When I walked up I thought they were having an art exhibit. When they said, ‘No, they’re waiting for you.’ I choked up, I couldn’t even talk. So I’ve been playing there every year since. The people in Germany really saved my musical career at a time when very few things were happening for me in New York or San Francisco. I have a really good following in Europe. I keep busy as a musician in the States, playing hospitals and assisted living places, but my band dates I pretty much play overseas.”

Jon’s Late Rent Sessions was eventually released on a German label and received modest airplay. During the 90s he travelled back and forth to Europe, spending a year playing gigs in Paris, and eventually settling in Hamburg. Since then he has released two more albums and has played gigs in Moscow, Shanghai, and Australia. With the help of the internet, Jon is able to produce his TV show anywhere.

PRESENT DAY

In the mid-2000s Jon produced Hammondcast, a radio program for CBS that aired in San Francisco at four in the morning and was rebroadcast before Oakland A’s games. “When the baseball games played in the afternoon, my show would play for about 20 minutes and then it was pre-empted. I had a lot of fun with that.” His guests included Danny Glover, Barry Melton from Country Joe & the Fish, and many local people. “It took me awhile to figure out that I had permission to broadcast anything I wanted. I could play the London Philharmonic or Stevie Wonder. My tag line was ‘Hello, Hello, Hello! Wake up or go back to sleep…’”

Today, Jon continues to visit tradeshows and is determined to keep doing everything he does as long as he can. “I made a pact with my longtime co-producer, guitarist Joe Berger, that we are going to go to these trade shows until we are little old men with canes.”

Put up a little tent that says “Free Cell Phones” and the people will come flocking! Maybe it’s a good name for a band these days – Jon Hammond

Real nice old car just blew my doors off on the 280 Freeway! He had the hammer down, looking real sharp, Jon Hammond

Hamburg Germany — Route 66 Hamburg Street P.R. Team – Mr. Berger and Mr. Hammond, thanks for the super cool T-Shirts Jens! They’ve been seen on TV and all over the place.

‘Return of The Student’ – 40 years later! Jon Hammond sits down with his piano teacher Tony Germain at Berklee College of Music in Boston MA exactly 40 years to the day that they first sat down at the piano together at 1140 Boylston Street in the Beantown – excellent interview! As seen on The Jon Hammond Show – MNN TV – Manhattan Neighborhood Network Channel 1 – TV Producers of Manhattan Neighborhood Network [MNN]

Anaheim CA — it was great meeting Rafael Feliciano at end of last NAMM Show…close friend of my friend Raul Rekow, I knew that Raul had been ill lately but I am shocked to hear he just died, this is terrible! Raul was the most healthy cat I ever met, terrible loss! So saddened to hear about, sorry for your loss Rafael and all the people who knew this great great Conguero! rest in peace Raul, Jon Hammond

2nd image – My friend Raul Rekow on the Carlos Santana Band with Carlos onstage there, Alex Ligertwood was on the band then…I shot this in Paris 1981 – Jon Hammond

I was in a band with the 2 Eddie’s in 1970-’71, Eddie was an excellent guitarist and vocalist. My deepest condolences go out to the Sorenson Family, Eddie Money and all Eddie’s friends. I have just been informed of this very sad news Eddie Sorenson has died.
Sincerely, Jon
*Photo at BB King’s NYC, either on Eddie’s bus or backstage – JH

Keeping the tradition Tino! and we had a lot of fun, much more coming too! – JH spcl. thanks / dankeschön Joe Berger, Michael Falkenstein, Professor Klaus Maier founder of Hammond Deutschland, musikmesse​, The NAMM Show​, Suzuki Musical Instruments​ Team – International project coming to a theater near you soon! – the sound at the heart of Funk Soul Blues Gospel and don’t forget Classical and Theater Organ – with original music from Jon Hammond Band​ coast to coast and around the world!

America’s pride The Blue Angels here at SFO to perform fearlessly in honor of Fleet Week 2012 with support from United Airlines Team at United Family Day very special annual event, special thanks to all these fine folks it takes to make it happen. From the Firefighters, to the Mechanics, Air Controllers, Crew, Food Preparations even the Imperial Storm Troopers from Star Wars were on hand for this very special family day – with music here from The Jon Hammond Band with special guest Lee Oskar harmonica, recent performance in Frankfurt Germany at the famous Jazzkeller “Tribute to 9/11 – Get Back In The Groove” Tony Lakatos tenor sax, Giovanni Gulino drums, Joe Berger guitar, Jon Hammond at Sk1 organ, enjoy folks! Sincerely, Jon Hammond http://www.HammondCast.com

Blue Angels, Fleet Week, SFO, United Airlines, F-22 Raptor, America’s Pride, Jon Hammond Band, Airport
“The mission of the United States Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron is “to showcase the pride and professionalism of the United States Navy and Marine Corps by inspiring a culture of excellence and service to country through flight demonstrations and community outreach.”
Lockheed C-130 Hercules “Fat Albert”

This is the biggest Fleet Week extravaganza in 20 years,
10-10-10 Special Thanks Captain Joe Sobczak : with the most amazing air show featuring a low fly by of a United Airlines 747-400: N118UA United Airlines Boeing 747-422 over San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge and a thrilling performance by the US Navy Blue Angels. Video shot by Jon Hammond on the deck of motor yacht Higher Hopes nearby Alcatraz

Jon Hammond in concert Behind the Beat with Landesjugendjazzorchester Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Zeughaus Wismar

Hillary took the Trump Chump to the Shed last night! No doubt about it:

Jon Hammond television interview with the great Roy Clark in Nashville!

Jon Hammond: Late Rent
by Steve Rosenfeld
Jon Hammond says “the fingers are the singers.’” The latest CD from this exceptional and soulful Hammond organist is the proof. “Late Rent” draws on decades of great recording sessions and top live performances to showcase his own playing and many top jazz and funk artists. It shows why the Hammond organ is one of the most enduring electric instruments and why Hammond is one of its best players.
Late Rent
Label: Ham-Berger-Friz Records
Genre: Jazz
All Jon Hammond profiles…
The Late Rent Story
Jon Hammond waited half his life to make this CD – starting with being an underground TV host.
Swingin’ Funky Jazz & Blues
Jon Hammond describes his style of music and how he learned to play it.
Two Hot Tracks
Jon Hammond recalls one of his first songs – from age 15 – and a great Sunday session.
Sonny’s Advice
A little advice on melody from a great sax player went a long way.http://behindthebeat.com/2004/12/jon-hammond-late-rent/

HammondCast 19 starts out in Frankfurt Germany recording in AFN Europe Headquarters on one big tube microphone featuring Hungarian tenor saxophone star TONY LAKATOS, now a member of the HR Radio Big Band. And a slow rainy day Blues featuring guitarist JOE BERGER and RAY GRAPPONE drums, Jon on the XB-2 organ/bass. Also a 35 year-old recording of my old rock band HADES and a shout out to the bass player STEVE WRIGHT who is recuperating from a stroke and heart attack but is now starting to speak again, get better Steve! From there to 1995 recording in LE BAR BAT NYC playing Jon’s tune “Pocket Funk”. A song I recorded with Eddie Money that is close to Eddie’s heart: “I’ve Been Lovin’ You Too Long” for all the Eddie Money freaks out there. I just saw Eddie in NY and he’s doin’ fine, still touring in a city near you! And finally ending up back in AFN Europe Headquarters playing Jon Hammond’s theme song: “LATE RENT”, dedicated to YOU of KYOU the your Rent will never be Late! http://www.HammondCast.com

I played 207 gigs in the famous JAZZ KNEIPE Frankfurt at Berlinerstr. 70 until Regina the boss finally closed the doors and moved to Spain a few years ago, usually in Duo, sometimes as Trio but more often than not as Solo. This was a special occasion because my bandmates from California came over so I had them on the gig with addition of Sgt. Al Wittig of U.S. Air Force on tenor, James Preston of Sons of Champlin band drums, Barry Finnerty gtr., myself Jon Hammond at XB-2 Hammond organ. This was a very special place frequented by all the musicians after there gigs. A 5 hour gig until wee hours of the morning, Live Music 7 days a week in rotation with musicians like Piano George, Izio Gross, Wilson de Oliveira and members of HR Bigband. Regina introduced me to Tony Lakatos the Hungarian tenor saxophonist who I play with still today. The club was not large but it had a great atmosphere and was always a safe place to hang out until as late as 5AM. Sadly the Jazz Kneipe is still shuttered there on Berlinerstr. directly behind the Frankfurter Hof Hotel. All musicians tip their hat when they pass by. There’s a lot of music in those walls!

Flashing back a few years to playing cocktail piano at a cocktail party in the old MPCS Studios on West 57th Street on Video Row in Manhattan NYC – Jon Hammond camera by Joe Berger was a nice party http://www.HammondCast.com/ — at Manhattan, NY.

HammondCast 202 The Jon Hammond Show audio from Jon Hammond’s radio program special retrospective with audio from a recording he made while on the house band led by Lou Colombo at The Wychmere Harbor Club in Harwich Port Cape Cod MA in 1978. Jon made the recording with his Nakamichi 550 tape deck, it is a remarkable recording of the Lou Colombo Band which played nightly for luminaries such as Speaker of The House Tip O’Neill for all his private parties and the Kennedy Clan.

Jon Hammond here…I just came back from visiting my main man Lou Colombo the great trumpet player bandleader and former Pro Baseball player in Fort Myers Florida. I played on Lou’s band for 2.5 years in the late 70’s in house band at the Wychmere Harbor Club in Cape Cod. Lou is going strong happy to report, playing regularly at the restaurant of his daughter Sherri and son inlaw Marc Neeley – Roadhouse Cafe during winter months and in the summer he plays at his son David’s Roadhouse Cafe in Hyannis MA on Cape Cod. I schlepped my Hammond Sk1 organ all the way down there in hopes I could sit in with Lou for a couple of tunes but unfortunately that wasn’t possible, however I shot some video of Lou and his fine group, so enjoy the music and personality of Lou Colombo, one of the all-time greats on his instrument!
The musicians on Lou’s band here at Roadhouse Cafe are Nelson Foucht on trombone, F.L. “Woody” Brubaker piano and keyboard bass, Richard Iannuzzi drums and Gil DiBenedetto tenor saxophone and clarinet.
Plus a little bit of flashback audio from our gig in 1978 near the end some photos, old and new from just a few days ago. Enjoy folks! sincerely, Jon Hammond

*Note: Some Baseball Stats for Louis Colombo as a player – he played pro baseball until breaking ankle at age 24 –

Personally shot film by Jon Hammond while on tour in Germany and in cockpit of PIA 747 Jumbo (Pakistan International Airlines) flying with Pakistani VIP’s to New York for Pakistan – American Friendship Day Celebration with singing of our National Anthem “The Star Spangled Banner” and showing of patriotism that will touch your heart. This is a must-see. Look closely for quick cameo appearances of radio legend Al Jazzbeaux Collins and Ruth Messinger former Manhattan Borough President.

Jon Hammond Band live in Jazzkeller celebrating 30 years musikmesse Warm
Up Party – “Get Back in The Groove” – Peter Klohmann tenor saxo, Joe
Berger guitar, Giovanni Totò Gulino drums, Jon Hammond at the Hammond
Sk1 organ with many special friends in the house jonhammondband.com – video Tino Pavlis

Mill Valley CA — Marla Hunt Hanson and Julius Karpen at special gathering celebrating life of Ron Polte who was the manager of Ace of Cups and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Marla Hunt original organist of Ace of Cups and Julius Karpen manager of Big Brother and The Holding Company band with Janis Joplin – long-time associate friend of Chet Helms – photo by Jon Hammond:

Roy Clark Television Interview with Jon Hammond just before Roy appeared on the American Eagle Awards in Nashville Tennessee during Summer NAMM Show – Roy Clark an American Living Legend and long-time member of The Grand Ole Opry and The Country Music Hall of Fame – Roy’s wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Clark

Roy Linwood Clark (born April 15, 1933) is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1992. Roy Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre.
During the 1970s, Clark frequently guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and enjoyed a 30-million viewership for Hee Haw. Clark is highly regarded and renowned as a guitarist and banjo player, and is also skilled on classical guitar and several other instruments. Although he has had hit songs as a pop vocalist (e.g., “Yesterday, When I Was Young” and “Thank God and Greyhound”), his instrumental skill has had an enormous effect on generations of bluegrass and country musicians. He has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry, since 1987[1][2] and The Country Music Hall of Fame.

Priceless film inside WNEW 1130AM New York with 2 Radio Legends: Al JAZZBEAUX COLLINS and SCOTT MUNI on JON HAMMOND’S HammondCast: Hear Scott Muni tell Jazzbeaux about his days at “WABeatlesC”

on the date commemorating when the Beatles first hit the shores of USA!
As previously broadcast on Jon’s TV show The Jon Hammond Show (24th year) and HammondCast on CBS’ KYCY/KYOU 1550AM San Francisco California. Enjoy! *Official site: http://www.HammondCast.com c)2006

Scott Muni (May 10, 1930 – September 28, 2004, aged 74) was an American disc jockey, who worked at the heyday of the AM Top 40 format and then was a pioneer of FM progressive rock radio. Rolling Stone magazine termed him “legendary”
Born Donald Allen Muñoz in Wichita, Kansas, Muni grew up in New Orleans. He joined the United States Marine Corps and began broadcasting there in 1950, reading “Dear John” letters over Radio Guam. After leaving the Corps and having considered acting as a career, he began working as a disc jockey; in 1953 he began working at WSMB in New Orleans. His mentor was Marshall Pearce. In 1955 he began broadcasting at station WAKR in Akron, Ohio, and after that worked in Kankakee, Illinois.

Career[edit]
Muni then spent almost 50 years at stations in New York City. He became a Top 40 broadcaster at 570 WMCA in the late 1950s, just before the start of their “Good Guys” era, and did a number of record hops in the New York area. In 1960, he moved to rival Top 40 station 770 WABC. There he did an early evening show called “Scotland’s Yard” and was among the first WABC DJs to capture the attention of the teenage audience for which the station would become famous. He also participated in the competition to cover The Beatles on their first visits to the United States, and thus began a long association with them.

In 1965, Muni left WABC and ran the Rolling Stone Night Club while doing occasional fill-in work for WMCA. Muni had explored some opportunities beyond radio: for a short time he co-hosted a local weekly television show on WABC-TV 7 with Bruce “Cousin Brucie” Morrow, and he would go on to record the spoken single “Letter to an Unborn Child”, about a soldier with a premonition, which was released in 1967 to little acclaim.

Muni decided to return to radio, and in 1966, he joined 98.7 WOR-FM, one of the earliest stations in the country to program free-form Progressive Rock music. The progressive format did not last at that station. In 1967 Muni moved to 102.7 WNEW-FM, which had been running a format of pop hits and show tunes, hosted by an all-woman staff. This time, the Progressive Rock format really took hold, with WNEW-FM becoming a legendary rock station. Muni stayed there for three decades as the afternoon DJ and sometimes program director. Muni was described by fellow WNEW-FM DJ Dennis Elsas as “the heart and soul of the place”. Under assorted management changes during the 1990s WNEW-FM lost its way, and in 1998 Muni ended up hosting a one-hour noontime classic rock program at WAXQ “Q104.3”, where he worked until suffering a stroke in early 2004.

Muni’s low, gravelly voice was instantly recognizable and often lampooned, both by other disc jockeys and by impressionists such as on Imus in the Morning. He was often known to his listeners by the nicknames “Scottso” or “The Professor”, the latter to emphasize both his rock expertise and his age difference with most of his audience. While he sometimes spoke in roundabout phrases and succumbed to progressive rock radio clichés such as “That was a tasty cut from …”, he also conveyed on the air and in his professional relationships a gruff immediacy that was a by-product of both his time in the Marines and his earlier Top 40 skills.

A bizarre exchange occurred in August 1972 when a hostage-holding bank robber called Muni on the air and engaged him in a long, often nonsensical conversation; the two peppered their post-hippie speech with discussions of Bob Dylan music and requests to hear the Grateful Dead.

Muni specialized in playing records from up-and-coming, or sometimes just-plain-obscure, acts from the United Kingdom on his weekly Friday “Things from England” segment. He also hosted the syndicated radio programs Ticket to Ride and Scott Muni’s World of Rock.

Muni often referred to “we interviewed so and so,” making reference to himself and either “Black” Earl Douglas or another producer. Indeed, Muni was friendly with many of the musicians whom he played, and they would often stop by the studio to visit on-air. He played poker in the studio with the Grateful Dead, and he would let Emerson, Lake & Palmer browse the station’s huge record library and put on whatever they liked. An oft-related story tells that he was interviewing Jimmy Page when the guitarist suddenly passed out from the aftereffects of the Led Zeppelin lifestyle. Muni calmly put on a record, revived Page, and completed the interview on the studio floor.

Muni was close to John Lennon and his family, and after Lennon’s murder he vowed to always open his show with a Lennon or Beatles record, a pledge that he kept for the balance of his career.

In addition to radio broadcasting, Muni also did voice-over work for radio and television; the most known were a commercial for Rolaids antacid (“How do you spell relief?”) and promos for Monday Night Football. His voice is also heard giving the introduction on the 1971 live albums Chicago at Carnegie Hall and Melanie at Carnegie Hall.

Muni also voiced many Radio & TV commercials such as Rolaids, JCPenney, Ricoh, etc. He also voiced episodes of NBC’s Friday Night Videos during 1985-86 and also voiced promos for ABC Sports which included boxing events on Wide World of Sports as well as Monday Night Football, the USFL on ABC, the Pro Bowlers Tour, the Sugar Bowl, the 1994 Stanley Cup Playoffs & Auto Racing including the Indy 500.

Personal life[edit]
Muni had three children with his first wife and two with his second wife, to whom he was married from 1966 until his death in 2004.

Death and legacy[edit]
He died on September 28, 2004 at the age of 74 in New York City and is buried in St. Gertrude’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Colonia, New Jersey. Muni is included in an exhibit display of important disc jockeys at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The DJs at Q104.3 keep Muni’s promise to New York listeners and still start their noon hour with the “12 o’clock Beatles Block”.

Muni was inducted into the Rock Radio Hall of Fame in the Legends of Rock Radio-Programming” category for his work at WNEW in 2014.

Roy Clark Television Interview with Jon Hammond just before Roy appeared on the American Eagle Awards in Nashville Tennessee during Summer NAMM Show – Roy Clark an American Living Legend and long-time member of The Grand Ole Opry and The Country Music Hall of Fame – Roy’s wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Clark

Roy Linwood Clark (born April 15, 1933) is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1992. Roy Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre.
During the 1970s, Clark frequently guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and enjoyed a 30-million viewership for Hee Haw. Clark is highly regarded and renowned as a guitarist and banjo player, and is also skilled on classical guitar and several other instruments. Although he has had hit songs as a pop vocalist (e.g., “Yesterday, When I Was Young” and “Thank God and Greyhound”), his instrumental skill has had an enormous effect on generations of bluegrass and country musicians. He has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry, since 1987[1][2] and The Country Music Hall of Fame.

Producer Jon Hammond
Language English

Roy Clark and Jon Hammond in Nashville Tennessee at the American Eagle Awards

Roy Clark Television Interview with Jon Hammond just before Roy appeared on the American Eagle Awards in Nashville Tennessee during Summer NAMM Show – Roy Clark an American Living Legend and long-time member of The Grand Ole Opry and The Country Music Hall of Fame – Roy’s wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Clark

Roy Linwood Clark (born April 15, 1933) is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1992. Roy Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre.
During the 1970s, Clark frequently guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and enjoyed a 30-million viewership for Hee Haw. Clark is highly regarded and renowned as a guitarist and banjo player, and is also skilled on classical guitar and several other instruments. Although he has had hit songs as a pop vocalist (e.g., “Yesterday, When I Was Young” and “Thank God and Greyhound”), his instrumental skill has had an enormous effect on generations of bluegrass and country musicians. He has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry, since 1987[1][2] and The Country Music Hall of Fame. BIOGRAPHY: Born in Meherrin, Virginia, Clark lived as a teenager in southeast Washington, D.C., where his father worked at the Washington Navy Yard. At 14, Clark began playing banjo, guitar, and mandolin, and by age 15 he had already won two National Banjo Championships[3] and world banjo/guitar flatpick championships. He was simultaneously pursuing a sporting career, first as a baseball player and then as a boxer, before dedicating himself solely to music. At 17, he had his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry.
At the age of 23, Clark obtained his pilot’s license and then bought a 1953 Piper Tri-Pacer (N1132C), which he flew for many years. This plane was raffled off on December 17, 2012, to benefit the charity Wings of Hope.[4] He has owned other planes, including a Mitsubishi MU-2, Stearman PT-17[5] and Mitsubishi MU-300 Diamond 1A bizjet.[6]
By 1955, he was a regular on Jimmy Dean’s Washington, D.C., television program. Dean, who valued punctuality among musicians in his band, the Texas Wildcats, fired Clark for habitual tardiness, telling him, “You’re the most talented person I’ve ever fired.” Clark married Barbara Joyce Rupard on August 31, 1957.[7] In 1960, Clark went out to Las Vegas, where he worked as a guitarist in a band led by former West Coast Western Swing bandleader-comedian Hank Penny. During the very early 1960s, he was also prominent in the backing band for Wanda Jackson—known as the Party Timers—during the latter part of her rockabilly period.[8]
When Dean was tapped to host The Tonight Show in the early 1960s, he asked Clark to appear, introducing him to a national audience for the first time. Subsequently, Clark appeared on The Beverly Hillbillies as a recurring character (actually two: he played businessman Roy Halsey and Roy’s mother, Myrtle). Once, on an episode of the Sunday evening Jackie Gleason Show dedicated to country music, Clark played a blistering rendition of “Down Home”. Later, he appeared on an episode of The Odd Couple wherein he played “Malagueña”.[9]
In 1963, Clark signed to Capitol Records and had three top ten hits. He switched to Dot Records and again scored hits. He later recorded for ABC Records, which had acquired Dot, and MCA Records, which absorbed the ABC label.
Clark as “Myrtle Halsey” on The Beverly Hillbillies, 1968.
In the mid ’60s, he co-hosted, along with Buck Owens, a weekday daytime country variety series for NBC entitled “Swingin’ Country”, which was cancelled after two seasons. In 1969, Clark and Buck Owens were the hosts of Hee Haw. The show was dropped by CBS Television in 1971 but continued to run in syndication for twenty-one more years. During its tenure, Clark was a member of the Million Dollar Band and participated in a host of comedy sketches. In 1983, Clark opened the Roy Clark Celebrity Theatre in Branson, Missouri, becoming the first country music star to have his own venue there, thus beginning a trend which led to Branson becoming a center of live music performance, as it is today. Many of the celebrities who play in Branson first performed at the Roy Clark Celebrity Theatre.
Clark frequently played in Branson during the 1980s and 1990s. He has since sold the venue (now owned by the Hughes Brothers and renamed the Hughes American Family Theatre) and gone back to a fairly light touring schedule, which usually includes a performance with Ramona Jones and the Jones Family Band at their annual tribute to Clark’s old Hee Haw co-star Grandpa Jones in Mountain View, Arkansas.[citation needed]
In addition to his musical skill, Clark has often displayed his talents as a comedian and actor. During his years on Hee Haw, Clark entertained with numerous comedy sketches, including a recurring feature where he played the clerk of the “Empty Arms Hotel”. Clark released several albums of his comedic performances, to varying critical acclaim and commercial success. Clark is one of the few surviving regular male cast members from the show.[citation needed]
Clark has endorsed Mosrite, Gretsch, and many other brands of guitars during his career. He currently endorses Heritage Guitars, which makes a Roy Clark model. On August 22, 1987, Clark was made a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He plays an annual benefit concert at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, the proceeds of which go to fund scholarships for aspiring musicians.[citation needed]
For many years Clark has made his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Roy Clark Elementary School in Tulsa’s Union School District was named in his honor in 1978. Fellow Oklahoma resident Mickey Mantle arranged for Clark to sing “Yesterday When I Was Young” at his funeral (which Clark did in 1995).[10]
On May 17, 2009, Clark was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame along with Barbara Mandrell and Charlie McCoy. On September 23, 2010, Clark sang “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch at Dodger Stadium in a game featuring the Los Angeles Dodgers versus the San Diego Padres. On April 12, 2011, Clark was honored by the Oklahoma House of Representatives. He will be honored by the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame as Oklahoma’s Music Ambassador for Children and will be presented with a commendation from Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin.

Producer Jon Hammond
Language English

Roy Clark and Jon Hammond in Nashville Tennessee at the American Eagle Awards

Mr. Hammond has toured worldwide since 1991 using the incredible Sk1 organ by Hammond Suzuki..™ “Classic Hammond Sound…In A Suitcase!” The Jon Hammond Show is a funky swinging instrumental revue, featuring top international soloists. The show has universal appeal. Big Hammond orgel sound – 100% organic

“Sennheiser has been at the apogee of the audio business for decades. When I was growing up, a pair of Sennheiser headphones was the aspiration of any knowledgeable audiophile. I recently had a chance to sit down with brothers Andreas and Daniel Sennheiser. They are the company’s co-CEOs; their grandfather founded the company 72 years ago.

The brothers grew up with high fidelity; audio and sound were always part of their youth. But it was oddly comforting that they shared the parental “turn down the volume” protestations as teenagers.

Both worked elsewhere before joining the family company. Andreas was trained as an engineer and Daniel spent time at Procter & Gamble. Marketing and design have become a larger initiative for the company.

Both executives collaborate across disciplines, and oversee the operation of 2800 employees. Production is based in Germany, with some in Ireland and Albuequerque.

The brothers described how the market has evolved over the decades, and with the rise of smartphones and portable players, the headphone market exploded. “Before it was sitting at home with your hi-fi and headphones. Now, headphones are about portability and fashion,” said Daniel. “Sound has come back as a primary concern for consumers, which is perfect timing for Sennheiser, which has stood for high fidelity for seven decades.”

Andreas pointed out that the MP3 format made it convenient for consumers to enjoy music beyond carrying cassettes or discs, and that is when the big headphone opportunity emerged.

We discussed the conundrum that an entire generation has grown up satisfied with various highly compressed audio formats, but now that full range fidelity is available Sennheiser is at the right place to meet consumer demand for superior fidelity.

The brothers walked me through Sennheiser’s initiative called Ambeo, a three-dimensional audio experience which captures the audio at creation (microphones) and mixing (blueprints for sound processing) and reproduction (speakers or headphones). The goal for Ambeo is to break down the perception barrier between reality and reproduction. “We want to generate the perfect illusion as if you were there at the concert or recording studio,” said Andreas.

Neil Young heard his music through Sennheiser’s industry standard HE1 and was amazed and annoyed that all the sonic information had been buried for years.

With twelve years of research in the field of immersive audio, the Sennheiser brothers are understandably confident that the rise of virtual reality and augmented reality presents a real need for the consumer. Sennheiser is, therefore, working with many VR/AR companies to ensure the audio aligns with the video, to avoid the sensory disconnect resulting in user discomfort.

Daniel refers to Ambeo as not only a quality signature of Sennheiser’s audio experience but also a brand feature with logo (think Dolby Digital or THX in the movie theatre). Consumer awareness of Ambeo is a goal, as the professional market has already embraced Ambeo. For the consumer, Sennhesier is establishing a retail presence at Oculus at the World Trade Center. As the Technical Partner to Westfield World Trade Center, Sennheiser will be opening the Soundscape, a new flagship showroom located in Oculus, New York’s newest retail location. Consumers can experience products like Ambeo and HE1, the hugely expensive headphones that Neil Young used to discover unheard elements in his music.

Andreas told me that “There was a time when convenience mattered and not sound quality, when what the headphone looked like and who was wearing it mattered, now the time has arrived when it all comes together. We have convenience, we have great looking products and it sounds great. No longer is it a compromise, the haptics and even the smell of leather and great sound quality and convenience are all finally available.”

Daniel echoed the sentiment, “The professionals all know Sennheiser, from Broadway productions to broadcast to recording studios, and we want to expose the consumer. We are launching a soundscape in the middle of the Oculus, for consumers to try some products. We are planning a pop-up shop in Soho in October, displaying our innovations over the decades.”

For my cross country flight, I was able to road test the new PXC 550, considered Sennheiser’s flagship travel headphone.

The out-of-the-box experience is very pleasurable. The unit is well packed and comes with a perfectly proportioned carrying case. The headset is remarkably lightweight considering the wealth of technology included. The Bluetooth connectivity is crisp, and the noise cancelling feature is nearly flawless. The supple leather ear cups make for comfortable use for many hours. The power switch is built-in to the design, such that placement back into the sturdy carrying case flips off the headphone’s power. Fortunately, a wired connection is available. I had just rediscovered my long lost iPod and was happy to enjoy my pre-Bluetooth playlists.

I happened on a delightful album by Strawbs called Acoustic Gold. I had not heard it in years, after playing it often upon my initial discovery years ago. I was delighted to hear nuances that escaped my scrutiny earlier. That experience became more frequent as I revisited old favorites. It was not quite my Neil Young moment, but the rediscovery of audio nuances was a delight.

As to Sennheiser’s strategy for distribution, their goals remain global. They remain cautious about where they are carried in retail; a strategy clearly followed by top-line products in other categories. Online has become an important sales channel for Sennheiser, especially in Asia where counterfeits pervade the entire consumer marketplace from drugs to batteries.

The brothers are very diplomatic about naming domestic retailers where they want to be carried, but they admit they are becoming more selective on where Sennheiser products are showcased.

We discussed the law of diminishing returns, which is a balance they always strike. Andreas referred to Formula One as a viable model, where the price of research is almost no object and the learning trickles down to other products. The aforementioned HE1 headphone costs $60,000.

For years it seemed to be a law of physics that a consumer had to choose between strong active noise cancelling or good sound. Sennheiser’s deep research proves it wrong, you can have both. Now they have added Bluetooth when for a long time you could have one or two features, but not these three. All three are available in the PXC 550.

For decades the company has been deeply involved in noise cancelling, from the time it was invented by Sennhesier in the ‘70s. “The last 10% was the toughest to overcome to achieve the perfection,” said Andreas.

Sennheiser was not willing to rest at 90%, and the freedom of being privately owned allowed them to invest for a decade to unlock the key to the last 10%.

“We are our own worst and best competitor,” said Daniel. “We are always aware of the limitations we uncover in our research. Just making great products and trusting people will find them is not enough anymore.” ”

Jon Hammond Field Recording rig with Sennheiser evolution e855 microphone and Nakamichi 550 Dual-Tracer portable two head cassette deck owned since 1976, bought at Harvey Electronics in New York City on 45th Street for $550 cash!

Mill Valley CA — Marla Hunt Hanson and Julius Karpen at special gathering celebrating life of Ron Polte who was the manager of Ace of Cups and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Marla Hunt original organist of Ace of Cups and Julius Karpen manager of Big Brother and The Holding Company band with Janis Joplin – long-time associate friend of Chet Helms – photo by Jon Hammond

the old days at 759 Harrison Street San Francisco when we shared rehearsal space with The Quicksilver Messenger Service at Bruce Hatch’s San

Francisco Radical Laboratories aka SF Rad Lab in years 1968 / 1969 (not to be confused with radiation lab folks! I am still in touch with

QSM guitarist Gary Duncan, sending my condolences Gary! – JH

*Note: This was Ron’s big project some years ago folks:http://jonhammondband.com/blog.html/jon_hammond_reflections_on_wild_west_festival/
JON HAMMOND REFLECTIONS ON WILD WEST FESTIVAL – LINK: http://kernelpanichammondcast.blogspot.com/2016/09/wow-folks-i-was-there-jon-hammond.html Wow folks, I was there! This was very nearly the biggest Rock Music Festival that almost happened – it was very close. I went to many meetings with Ron Polte and a lot of very heavy San Francisco Rock bands were down to play the “Wild West Festival” (1969) Posters were already made up, we had meetings in the Zoetrope building now owned by Francis Ford Coppola and The Straight Theatre on Haight Street – Ron Polte was part owner of Straight Theatre in addition to being the manager of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Ace of Cups and for a time Sons of Champlin as well. I highly recommend watching and listening to this very rare footage of the press conference with Big Daddy Tom Donahue speaking about the project – Jon Hammond Band​
photo by Jon Hammond​ – breakfast with Ron
I just saw Ron’s obit by Paul Liberatore​ in the Marin IJ:http://www.marinij.com/article/NO/20160916/NEWS/160919827
“Quicksilver Quicksilver Messenger Service – Band​ manager Ron Polte dies in Mill Valley at 84″
” By Paul Liberatore, Marin Independent Journal

Posted: 09/16/16, 5:53 PM PDT | Updated: 6 hrs ago

Ron Polte, who managed the psychedelic rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service and the all-female quintet the Ace of Cups during the glory days of the San Francisco Sound, died Wednesday at his longtime home in Mill Valley. He was 84.

Mr. Polte had been suffering from multiple health problems and had been under Hospice care since May, said his wife of 20 years, Sally Robert.

“He was a good man,” said Quicksilver band member David Freiberg, speaking by phone from Florida while on tour with the Jefferson Starship. “I could always trust him to do what he thought was right.”

Born on the south side of Chicago into a family of nine children, Mr. Polte had a tough childhood, but managed to turn his life around after being in and out of trouble with the law as a teenager, his wife said.

In Chicago, he became friends with blues singer-songwriter Nick Gravenites (“Born in Chicago,” “Buried Alive in the Blues”) when they were teenagers and followed him out to San Francisco in the early 1960s. They were the first of the Chicago blues crowd, including Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop and Mark Naftalin of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, to relocate in the Bay Area, most of them settling in Marin and Sonoma counties.

In 1967, Mr. Polte took over management of Quicksilver and the Ace of Cups after their original manager, Ambrose Hollingworth, was seriously injured in a car crash near Muir Beach.

“When we needed somebody, there he was,” Freiberg said.

Quicksilver was the last of the San Francisco hippie bands to ink a major label deal when they signed with Capitol Records in late 1967.

“He took it slow and steady and wouldn’t take a deal if he didn’t think it was right,” Freiberg recalled. “It took a while, but we got a really good deal with Capitol.”

Mr. Polte was known as a dutiful and resourceful manager who did what he could to meet the needs of the young musicians in his bands. Freiberg remembered that when he and his Quicksilver bandmates were living together in a house in Mill Valley, they informed him of their desire to move onto a farm in the country with a barn where they could rehearse. Mr. Polte wasted no time making that wish come true.

“Within a week and a half, we were living on an old dairy farm in Olema,” Freiberg recalled, chuckling. “He really cared about making sure everybody was taken care of.”
Diane Vitalich of Novato, drummer for the Ace of Cups, recalled that when she and her bandmates needed transportation, Mr. Polte went to an auction of state vehicles at San Quentin and bought cars for all of them.

“He bought us five 1963 Dodge Darts,” she said. “They were all blue and all looked the same.”

During this time, Mr. Polte started Westpole, a booking agency that handled Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, the Sons of Champlin and other seminal Bay Area rock groups.

He’s also credited with inspiring the name of the band Electric Flag, a short-lived supergroup formed by Bloomfield, Gravenites, keyboardist Barry Goldberg, bassist Harvey Brooks and drummer Buddy Miles. According to Gravenites, Quicksilver had somehow come into possession of a light-up electric flag after a gig at a veterans hall.

“He brought it over to where we were all living and rehearsing in Tam Valley,” he recalled. “We plugged it in and it lit up and started waving. We said, ‘Hey, look at that. Let’s call ourselves the Electric Flag.’”

Eventually, Mr. Polte escaped from the hard living and tumult of the music business, spending time on a remote lodge in the New Mexico wilderness owned by Frank Werber, the charismatic manager of the Kingston Trio and owner of the Trident, a legendary Sausalito restaurant.

Through it all, he never lost the values that defined the ‘60s generation in San Francisco.

“All the altruistic thinking that came out of that era he agreed with a thousand percent,” Gravenites said. “He remained a firm defender of all the idealism from those years.”

In addition to his wife, Mr. Polte is survived by two daughters, Pamela Polte of Sutter Creek, Amador County, and Patti Ann Lindecker of Chicago; two sons, Thomas Polte of Chicago and Jeremy Polte of Dunsmuir, Siskiyou County, and two sisters, Marilyn McMinn and Nancy Brunanchon of Pine Grove, Amador County.”

Wow folks, I was there! This was very nearly the biggest Rock Music Festival that almost happened – it was very close. I went to many meetings with Ron Polte and a lot of very heavy San Francisco Rock bands were down to play the “Wild West Festival” (1969) Posters were already made up, we had meetings in the Zoetrope building now owned by Francis Ford Coppola and The Straight Theatre on Haight Street – Ron Polte was part owner of Straight Theatre in addition to being the manager of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Ace of Cups and for a time Sons of Champlin as well. I highly recommend watching and listening to this very rare footage of the press conference with Big Daddy Tom Donahue speaking about the project – Jon Hammond *long-time member Local 6 Musicians Union (but not then!)

” KQED News report from 1969 featuring a press conference by
Tom Donahue (1928-75), who discusses the Wild West Rock Festival that was to have taken place in Golden Gate Park but was cancelled due to protests by locals. Donahue believes that even though the concert never happened, this was a positive experience for the San Francisco community. He states that: “We also felt that a great deal of the good things that have come out of the artistic community in this country have originated in San Francisco. That it’s a starting point. Thay may sound chauvanistic but I also think it’s the truth.” Ends with brief comments from another spokesman, who refers to the “unecessary and … unwarranted paranoia” that the Wild West project had to deal with. It is worth noting that Donahue was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a non-peformer, one of only three disc jockeys to receive that honor to date (2011). Tags: golden gate park, kqn 486, news cameras, rock concerts, ron polte, tom donahue, wild west festival Added to San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on November 18, 2011. ”

Tom Donahue on the Wild West Festival (1969) (Updated over a year ago)